States Increasing Pregnancy and Nursing Protections in the Workplace

Over the past few years, many states have added protections for pregnant and nursing mothers in the workplace. While only some of these protective laws have been a requirement to display on labor law posters, the fact that there are laws against pregnancy and nursing discrimination shows progress, and exemplifies the constantly changing demographic of the modern workforce.

The most recent example of added protections come from Massachusetts, whose Senate on June 22nd, 2017 voted to pass the Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Nevada’s Legislatures have also pushed through new protections for pregnancy accommodations and nursing mothers. Senate Bill 253 put in place the new Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act for employers who have at least 15 employees.

While the aforementioned laws are not mandated to display on labor posters as of yet, in 2016, the Colorado Civil Rights Division released a new Pregnancy Accommodations Notice that is a required labor posting. Also in 2016, the Utah Labor Commissions released a new Pregnancy and Related Conditions notice. Both notices are a required labor posting and can be found on the 2017 Colorado labor posterand the 2017 Utah labor poster, respectively.

Federal laws that have provisions for pregnant and nursing women are the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family Medical Leave Act. In August of 2016, the Fair Labor Standards Act also added a prevision to the labor poster for nursing mothers. Many states recognized that the federal guidelines weren’t enough, and added their own specific set of rules for employers to accommodate pregnant and nursing mothers. The United States Department of Labor Women’s Bureau has an interactive map that provides information on which states have protections on such issues such as discrimination, accommodations and breast-feeding rights. The National Women’s Law Center has a brief description on many recent state laws, including which employers are responsible, and what sort of protections the state mandates for pregnant and nursing mothers.

In the coming years, there are bound to be more laws that aim for a more inclusive workforce. If a state or federal agency mandates that protections for workers be displayed on a labor poster, employers should be aware of these laws and either download the individual postings or purchase an all in one federal or state all-in-one labor posters from a trusted labor law poster provider.